NOAA plans $20 million satellite review
- By Joab Jackson
- Nov 25, 2003
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has awarded 11 contracts to develop architecture ideas for next-generation weather satellites.
The winning companies will conduct studies on the best ways to upgrade the agency's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system, NOAA officials said.
Jointly the contracts are worth $20.5 million, but the winning vendors did not all receive contracts of the same amount. The period for each contract is 12 months, with an option for six additional months.
Each company will define the requirements for different parts of the GOES system. The studies must include research of advanced technologies and other architectures, NOAA officials said.
The satellite system provides global weather information for public and government use. The agency wants to upgrade the quality and timeliness of the information.
The vendors and their contract awards are:
Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colo.: $2.5 million Boeing Co. of Chicago: $2.5 millionCarr Astronautics Inc. of Washington: $500,000Harris Corp. of Melbourne, Fla.: $1.5 million Honeywell International Corp. of Morris Township, N.J.: $500,000Integral Systems Inc. of Lanham, Md.: $500,000Lockheed Martin Corp.: $2.5 millionNorthrop Grumman Corp.: $2.5 millionOrbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va.: $2 millionRaytheon Co.: $2.5 millionSpectrum Astro Inc. of Gilbert, Ariz.: $1 million.
About the Author
Joab Jackson is the senior technology editor for Government Computer News.